Selected Poems (134 page)

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Authors: Byron

Tags: #Literary Criticism, #Poetry, #General

BOOK: Selected Poems
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The honey, nor enquire whence ’tis derived.
Be satisfied – you are not all abandon’d.

325

SARDANAPALUS
: My life insures me that. How long,
bethink you,
Were not I yet a king, should I be mortal;
That is, where mortals
are
, not where they must be?
ZARINA
: I know not. But yet live for my – that is,
Your children’s sake!
SARDANAPALUS
:My gentle, wrong’d Zarina!

330

I am the very slave of circumstance
And impulse – borne away with every breath!
Misplaced upon the throne – misplaced in life.
I know not what I could have been, but feel
I am not what I should be – let it end.

335

But take this with thee: if I was not form’d
To prize a love like thine, a mind like thine,
Nor dote even on thy beauty – as I’ve doted
On lesser charms, for no cause save that such
Devotion was a duty, and I hated

340

All that look’d like a chain for me or others
(This even rebellion must avouch); yet hear
These words, perhaps among my last – that none
E’er valued more thy virtues, though he knew not
To profit by them – as the miner lights

345

Upon a vein of virgin ore, discovering
That which avails him nothing: he hath found it,
But ’tis not his – but some superior’s, who
Placed him to dig, but not divide the wealth
Which sparkles at his feet; nor dare he lift

350

Nor poise it, but must grovel on, upturning
The sullen earth.
ZARINA
:Oh! if thou hast at length
Discover’d that my love is worth esteem,
I ask no more – but let us hence together,
And I – let me say
me
– shall yet be happy.

355

Assyria is not all the earth – we’ll find
A world out of our own – and be more bless’d
Than I have ever been, or thou, with all
An empire to indulge thee.
[
Enter
SALEMENES
.]
SALEMENES
: I must part ye –
The moments, which must not be lost, are passing.

360

ZARINA
: Inhuman brother! wilt thou thus weigh out
Instants so high and blest?
SALEMENES
:Blest!
ZARINA
:He hath been
So gentle with me, that I cannot think
Of quitting.
SALEMENES
: So – this feminine farewell
Ends as such partings end, in no departure.

365

I thought as much, and yielded against all
My better bodings. But it must not be.
ZARINA
: Not be?
SALEMENES
: Remain, and perish —
ZARINA
:With my husband
SALEMENES
: And children.
ZARINA
:Alas!
SALEMENES
:Hear me, sister, like
My
sister: – all’s prepared to make your safety

370

Certain, and of the boys too, our last hopes;
’Tis not a single question of mere feeling,
Though that were much – but ’tis a point of state:
The rebels would do more to seize upon
The offspring of their sovereign, and so crush —

375

ZARINA
: Ah! do not name it.
SALEMENES
:Well, then, mark me: when
They are safe beyond the Median’s grasp, the rebels
Have miss’d their chief aim – the extinction of
The line of Nimrod. Though the present king
Fall, his sons live for victory and vengeance.

380

ZARINA
: But could not I remain, alone?
SALEMENES
:What! leave
Your children, with two parents and yet orphans –
In a strange land – so young, so distant?
ZARINA
:No—
My heart will break.
SALEMENES
:Now you know all – decide.
SARDANAPALUS
: Zarina, he hath spoken well, and we

385

Must yield awhile to this necessity.
Remaining here, you may lose all; departing,
You save the better part of what is left,
To both of us, and to such loyal hearts
As yet beat in these kingdoms.
SALEMENES
:The time presses.

390

SARDANAPALUS
: Go, then. If e’er we meet again, perhaps
I may be worthier of you – and, if not,
Remember that my faults, though not atoned for,
Are
ended
. Yet, I dread thy nature will
Grieve more above the blighted name and ashes

395

Which once were mightiest in Assyria – than—
But I grow womanish again, and must not;
I must learn sternness now. My sins have all
Been of the softer order —
hide
thy tears –
I do not bid thee
not
to shed them – ’twere

400

Easier to stop Euphrates at its source
Than one tear of a true and tender heart –
But let me not behold them; they unman me
Here when I had remann’d myself. My brother,
Lead her away.
ZARINA
:Oh, God! I never shall

405

Behold him more!
SARDANAPALUS
[
striving to conduct her
]: Nay, sister, I
must
be obey’d.
ZARINA
: I must remain – away! you shall not hold me.
What shall he die alone? –
I
live alone?
SALEMENES
: He shall
not die alone
; but lonely you
Have lived for years.
ZARINA
: That’s false! I knew
he
lived,

410

And lived upon his image – let me go!
SALEMENES
[
conducting her off the stage
]: Nay, then, I must
use some fraternal force,
Which you will pardon.
ZARINA
:Never. Help me! Oh!
Sardanapalus, wilt thou thus behold me
Torn from thee?
SALEMENES
:Nay – then all is lost again,

415

If that this moment is not gain’d.
ZARINA
: My brain turns –
My eyes fail – where is he?
[
She faints
.]
SARDANAPALUS
[
advancing
]: No – set her down –
She’s dead – and you have slain her.
SALEMENES
:’Tis the mere
Faintness of o’erwrought passion: in the air
She will recover. Pray, keep back. – [
Aside
.] I must

420

Avail myself of this sole moment to
Bear her to where her children are embark’d,
I’ the royal galley on the river.
[
SALEMENES
bears her off
.]
SARDANAPALUS
[
solus
]: This, too –
And this too must I suffer – I, who never
Inflicted purposely on human hearts

425

A voluntary pang! But that is false –
She loved me, and I loved her. – Fatal passion!
Why dost thou not expire
at once
in hearts
Which thou hast lighted up at once? Zarina!
I must pay dearly for the desolation

430

Now brought upon thee. Had I never loved
But thee, I should have been an unopposed
Monarch of honouring nations. To what gulfs
A single deviation from the track
Of human duties leads even those who claim

435

The homage of mankind as their born due,
And find it, till they forfeit it themselves!
[
Enter
MYRRHA
.]
SARDANAPALUS
:
You
here! Who call’d you?
MYRRHA
: No one – but I heard
Far off a voice of wail and lamentation,
And thought —
SARDANAPALUS
: It forms no portion of your duties

440

To enter here till sought for.
MYRRHA
:Though I might,
Perhaps, recal some softer words of yours
(Although they
too were chiding
), which reproved me,
Because I ever dreaded to intrude;
Resisting my own wish and your injunction

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